Winter Emergency Heating Services Las Vegas

In Las Vegas, the best first step to take to get urgent heating services is to reach out to local HVAC companies that provide emergency services. These businesses usually employ technicians who are ready to work on furnaces and other heating components that need quick attention. Your utility provider is another good resource to check with. They might have some kind of local emergency program that can help thaw out a chilled home. And if your access to heat is really, truly in jeopardy, there are community organizations and local government offices that might also step in to help. Remember, though; you have to move fast to get that help in the winter months when everyone's asking for it.

Usually, when people talk about a heating emergency, they're referring to a situation in which heat is suddenly no longer available during decidedly cold weather. They might be discussing a furnace, boiler, or heating system that has gone caput or that's in the process of going kaput, a heating fuel supply that's seriously in trouble, or a heating system that is heating nothing but air, thanks to a gas leak, electrical failure, or some other problem that has knocked it out of commission. These emergencies need immediate attention to avoid damage to the heating equipment itself and to keep the inhabitants warm and safe until the emergency is resolved.

You can use auxiliary heat during the winter, but it is not really meant to be used for a long period of time. Auxiliary heat is less efficient and more expensive to run than your normal heating system. If you find yourself using it a lot, try to get your heating unit checked out. Most systems have some sort of diagnostic feature, and many include one or more temperature sensors, that will let your technician know if something is up with your unit.

There are a number of reasons that make emergency heating services in Las Vegas quite a bit pricier than other types of service calls. For one, when you call for help, it's often because you need someone to come pronto, and that beside service often comes at a "we're too busy, so pay more" premium. And even if our service tech doesn't work rapidly, the very nature of the function demands that parts get to the system right away and in working order if the part's about to fail too. Those urgent repairs also drive up labor and transportation costs (consider how far across Vegas you've got to bike to reach many customers) and the price of the part itself, as the unheated room swells with potential demand for the technician's time and talent.

A heat emergency is an occasion when unusually high temperatures or intense weather conditions make it hard or perilous for individuals to maintain sufficient warmth and heating in their residences. This can threaten several people's health, and the serious risk extends to some populations that are ordinarily in good health. The services that protect the public from indoor hypothermia in the winter typically serve a much wider swath of the population than emergency winter heating services. In some localities, though, even that safety net is "thin," serving only a handful of the sheltered in the half a dozen days that hyperthermia could be life-threatening.

In the event of a winter electricity outage in Las Vegas that affects your home heating, you might try these alternative methods to stay warm. If your home has a wood-burning or gas fireplace, use it. Those fireplaces can throw off a lot of heat without needing electricity, and they’re probably going to be your best bet for staying warm and safe. If you don’t have one of those, or if your fireplace isn’t working, go get your portable propane heater and your kerosene heater. Both of those can work without electricity, and if you use them as directed, they can and will provide you with heat that you desperately need. Just remember: Don’t use those two types of heaters in a space where you can’t get enough fresh air, as both types of fuel can produce enough carbon monoxide to make you sick—or worse.

How long you can use emergency heat in your home depends on your particular heating system and what kind of fuel it burns. But in Las Vegas, the temperatures are mild. Most of the time, we do not need to use heating systems of any kind. When we have had to use heating, it has been in the form of heat pumps. To give you an idea of how inefficient emergency heat is, in the winter of 2013, I was using a heat pump as my main (and only) heating unit, but I had to back it up with emergency heat (and by "emergency heat," I mean a resistance heater that was burning natural gas at 100 percent efficiency; the heat pump, by contrast, was "only" burning gas at 36 percent efficiency).

Confusion or dizziness, an extremely high body temperature, and a rapid or strong pulse are three indicators that someone is experiencing a heat-related emergency.

What is dangerously hot weather in Las Vegas? Well, it isn't just when the thermometer hits 105°F or higher. It's when the combination of excessive heat and humidity creates a severe health hazard for the embodied. Although the National Weather Service declared a drought for Nevada back in 2018 (which was later extended into 2019 and 2020), Las Vegans can still expect a range of hazardous heat conditions that, if left unheeded, could easily lead to life-threatening situations.

Using emergency heat, especially in a place like Las Vegas, can be a lot more costly. This is primarily because emergency heat tends to operate on the principle of electric resistance heating, which is just as energy-intensive as it sounds. Also, the way that electric resistance heating works can make it less effective and efficient for achieving the even and comfortable heat distribution that all of us expect when we turn up the thermostat and call it "winter." Lastly, if you're using emergency heat, it often means that your main heating system is on the fritz and needs fixing, too.